8vo. pp. xxii, 227, (3), [1 integral blank], with engraved armorial headpiece on a ii. Bound in contemporary blind-ruled calf with gilt title label and florets on spine. Engraved frontispiece portrait inscribed “gravé par [Claude] Roy depuis la recouvrement de sa veuë”. Mid-18th century ‘wheel’ stamps of the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne (dispersed 1793) on titlepage and final leaf. Rare sole edition of this biography of Marie Lumague (1599-1657), a noblewoman who towed a fine line between the secular and religious worlds. For the last 20 years of her life, Lumague was predominantly occupied with saving and converting so-called ‘filles débauchées’, as well as founding two new religious communities with the help of close friend St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). The present biography seems hagiographical and may have been printed with a view to Lumague’s beatification – which never proceeded. Taking the moniker ‘servante de Dieu’ rather literally, Colin’s biography records that Lumague used to disguise herself as a servant to smuggle herself into sticky situations, e.g., in brothels, depraved households, and isolated villages. These spirited exploits took place against the rather complex background of Lumague’s life. As a teenager she had entered the Capuchin order but was obliged to exit due to illness before taking her vows; she then married a rich nobleman at the age of 17, but was widowed by the age of 19. Following her husband’s death, she again turned to religion and took the habit of the Third Order of St Dominic (taking Vincent de Paul as her spiritual director). Around 1630 she founded the community of the Filles de la Providence for girls from poor backgrounds to ensure that they ‘conserved their chastity’. But in 1639 she in fact re-married, bearing three children to her second husband Claude Chastelain. Finally, in the last decade of her life, she founded a second religious community, that of the Union-Chrétienne de Saint-Chaumond dedicated to the conversion of Protestants, Jews, and other heretics. Perhaps supporting an effort at beatification, the final chapter of the present text discusses Lumague’s reputation for saintliness and the miracles attributed to her. Finally, an appendix of relevant documents or ‘Pièces Justicatives’ is found on pp. 170-220

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